The Guardian’s Zach Stafford received footage from Lindsay Brown, 31, of police clashing with protesters after they left the Trump rally in Chicago.

Brown said:

You could feel the anger the protesters had for the Trump supporters, who were openly racist and hostile to protesters ... People were energized from successfully getting the event canceled, but when they exited the area, they confronted Trump supporters shouting at them.

Ben Carson, the former presidential candidate who endorsed Donald Trump this week, told Fox News’ Megyn Kelly that the candidates need to discourage the kind of violence that broke out tonight in Chicago:

There’s no question that those of us in leadership positions should be attempting to calm people down and teach people to respect each other ... That’s something we all need to be thinking about.

Carson continued: “It’s going to be a huge problem for our country if we don’t do something about it now. A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

Intermittent scuffles and fights are breaking out now between Trump supporters, protesters and police. Protesters have crowded the sidewalks and are overflowing into the streets, pushing at the barricades formed by police. Protesters formed a spontaneous human blockade of the parking garage where many rally-goers parked, creating a standoff between screaming Trump supporters in the multi-level garage and screaming protestors on the ground below.

A Trump supporter talks to a demonstrator. Photograph: Kamil Krzaczynski/Reuters

Speaking to Greta Van Susteren on Fox News,Donald Trump declared that “tremendous anger out there, on both sides” was behind the cancellation of tonight’s rally in Chicago.

America. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

“We had 25,000 people that tried to come in - supporters, all supporters,” Trump said. “After seeing what’s on the show, I just think that it was a very good decision - I don’t wanna see people hurt.”

“I don’t use hate speech,” Trump said in response to a question from Van Susteren about whether he bears any responsibility for the outbursts at his rallies. “There’s tremendous division in our country. I’ve seen it, I’m watching it, I’ve been witness to it, and something has to be done.”

But, Trump says, he’s not the one giving ammunition to his followers. “I represent a large group of people that have anger - they’re not angry people, but they have anger,” Trump said. “This is very economic; this has a lot to do with jobs.”

“They haven’t shut down the rally at all, because it’s on television now, and it’s being seen by a lot more people,” Trump said.

“No, I don’t get scared. I don’t get scared,” Trump said, after Van Susteren asked him if he was worried for his personal safety.

Protester: "If he can’t even handle Chicago, what makes him think he could handle Isis?"

Reporting live from the Chicago Pavillion at the University of Illinois, the Guardian’s Ben Jacobs, Zach Stafford and Ciara McCarthy write that the scene of Donald Trump’s rally had been violent and chaotic even hours before its cancellation.

A protester raises his fist to supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump before a rally on the campus of the University of Illinois-Chicago. Photograph: Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

In Chicago, dozens of protesters, wearing shirts with slogans such as “Muslims united against Trump”, were kicked out.

Police walked up and down the arena stairs, holding sheaves of plastic handcuffs.Attendees grabbed signs out of each other’s hands while cursing and exchanging vulgar gestures. At least one section of young people was cleared out by police long before the event began.

Finally, a half-hour after the event was scheduled to begin, the announcement came that Trump was not coming. The crowd immediately erupted.

College students shouted “We shut it down” while loyal supporters of the Republican frontrunner shouted “We want Trump”.

Trump rally in Chicago abruptly postponed over safety concerns

Donald Trump: "Whatever happened to freedom of speech?"

Scott Bixby

In a phone call with Chris Matthews on MSNBC, presidential candidate Donald Trump told the host that he had his rally in Chicago cancelled because “I don’t wanna see people hurt or worse,” but blamed the closure on anti-Trump protestors and told them to “get a job.”

“Look, it’s a two-way street,” Trump said of physical violence at his rallies. “Frankly when the other side... when they get tough, it ends up being the front-page story.”

Telling Matthews that “some of these protestors are very dangerous people,” Trump said that the reason protestors continue to come to his rallies is based on their economic concerns, rather than opposition to his platform.

“We shouldn’t be restricted from having a rally here because of ethnic makeup,” Trump said. “It shouldn’t matter.”

“We’re doing others, and up until this point we’ve had no problems,” Trump said, insisting that he will continue to host rallies for his candidacy, “but this is a little bit of a different circumstance, and it’s a little sad that you can’t have a rally in a major city in this country. Whatever happened to freedom of speech?”